The present invention relates to a process for fading dyed textile products in a non-uniform way, and to the resulting faded products obtained by said process.
The term "textile products", as used in the instant specification and in the appended claims, encompasses yarns or threads in skein form or wound on a planar structure, smooth or figured fabrics, cloths such as that cotton cloth which is generally known as "denim", and finished textile articles of manufacture such as trousers (jeans), coats, short overcoats, shirts, blouses, skirts, and so forth.
As is well-known for some fabrics or finished clothing and articles of manufacture, such as, e.g., (denim) cloth, and trousers (jeans), a treatment of artificial aging is desired, which treatment is achieved by carrying out a localized fading or discoloring of the original fabric.
A known method to obtain such an effect is designated "stone wash". Such a process typically involves dipping the textile products into water or into a bath containing a discoloring and/or bleaching chemical agent, such as, e.g., a hypochlorite solution, together with pumice granules or stones having a size generally within the range of from 1 to 10 cm. This process makes it possible to obtain discolored or faded textile products with light to dark contrasting shades at the seams and with uniformity of color in the residual portion of the textile product, typical of the natural wear the fabrics undergo during use.
A process for fading textile articles under dry conditions, i.e., without a dipping in an aqueous bath as it occurs in the "stone wash" process, is known as well. This process, known as "acid wash," was devised by the same applicant of the instant invention, and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,213. Said process comprises bringing the dyed textile article into contact, by tumbling the article in a non-aqueous environment, with a material such as pumice granules, which has been impregnated with a bleaching chemical agent. The textile material may be in either a wet or dry condition when it comes into contact with the impregnated material.